Friday’s stop in Monaco at Stade Louis II is the final Diamond League track meet before a five-week to make room for assorted continental championships and the Commonwealth Games. Many tour regulars call Monaco their favorite venue in Europe, and for middle-distance runners and distance runners, it could be the fastest.

In their last contests until well into August against fields of this caliber, runners are not going to let the pace dawdle in Monaco. Molly Huddle (5000 meters), Evan Jager (3000-meter steeplechase), and Duane Solomon (800 meters) arrive with American record aspirations on their minds.

Women’s 5000This is the race Molly Huddle has been looking forward to for the entire outdoor season. She’d love a good crack at her national record of 14:44.76. But one new element in her track life is a solid American rival, Shannon Rowbury. She barely edged Rowbury in a ferocious-to-the finish 5000 at the USATF Championships, 15:01.56 to 1501.71. The pecking order of those two – and of 2012 U.S. Olympian Kim Conley, who’ll be hoping to improve on her recent personal best of 15:08.61 – is one of the subplots of this 5000.

This is the second world-class women’s 5000 of 2014. The first was in Rome on June 5, with Ethiopians Genzebe Dibaba (14:34.99) and Almaz Ayana and Kenyans Viola Kibiwot and Mercy Cherono running the four fastest times of the year. They'll all be in Monaco, along with Sally Kipyego, who has the year’s best 10,000, a 30:42.26.

The wild card here is Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, who won a 5000 in Palo Alto in May in 14:59.23. Since then, she’s become a world beater, with two Diamond League 1500-meter wins off of scorching kicks. She’s obviously a far better runner than when she ran 14:59, and if she can be close with a lap to go, her finishing speed may not be denied.

Men’s 1500This could be the centerpiece of the Monaco meet. With the quality and size of this field, there’s a bit of an anything-can-happen scenario. Still, it’s foolish to pick against Asbel Kiprop, the reigning world champion and the fourth fastest in history. Some think he could threaten Hicham El Guerrouj’s world record of 3:26.00.

Kiprop appeared sharp in his 1:43.34 victory in the 800 in Paris on July 5. But in Monaco, he has to outgun fellow Kenyans Silas Kiplagat, who defeated him in Rome with a 3:30.44 on June 5, and newcomer Ronald Kwemoi, who beat Kiplagat in Lausanne on July 3. And there’s the always dangerous Ayanlew Souleiman of Djibouti, the 2014 world indoor champion.

Matthew Centrowitz and Leo Manzano, America’s best, are in the field. But this is almost surely to be a quick-from-the-gun 1500 in which a couple of frontrunners survive, and coming from behind after being well off the pace wouldn’t seem to be the order of the day. The Americans could be pulled along to fast times, of course.

Men’s 800World record holder and 2012 Olympic champion David Rudisha, back in action after a long absence due to a knee injury, showed last weekend he's back. His 1:43.34 win in Glasgow last weekend tied Asbel Kiprop's Paris time for the quickest two-lapper of the season.

The Glasgow field wasn’t truly top-tier, however. On Friday, Rudisha faces Olympic silver medalist Nijel Amos of Botswana, who won the Pre Classic 800, and 2013 world champion Mo Aman of Ethiopia, who has Diamond League victories in Doha and Rome this year.

Rudisha is likely capable of something in the 1:42s. If Duane Solomon, whose personal best is 1:42.82, can stay close, he’ll finally achieve his long-professed goal of bettering Johnny Gray’s 1985 American record of 1:42.60.

Men’s 3000-Meter SteeplechaseThere’s good reason to believe Evan Jager will walk away from Friday’s race with a new American record. In Oslo on June 11, in his first steeplechase race of 2014, he came with 16/100ths of a second of his U.S. standard of 8:06.81, despite slowing on the final lap.

Five weeks later, he should be fitter and have a faster finish. He’s got people to hang on to who’ll be looking for the year’s first sub-8:00 steeplechase, including the 21-year-old Kenyan Jairus Birech, who beat Jager in Oslo with an 8:02.37, and former Olympic and world champion Brimin Kipruto.

There’s almost no chance of this steeplechase getting tactical. Jager doesn’t just go for speedy times; he injects himself into the contest, seriously contending for the victory. He’s also getting better over the steeple barriers. He could make some major news in Monaco on Friday.